


There's No Escape When Fire Meets Fate

by Eternal Scribe (Shadowcat)



Series: GatheringFiKi - 12 Days of Christmas 2018 [6]
Category: Desperate Romantics, Return to Treasure Island (TV 1996)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, False Accusations, Fighting, Implied/Referenced Torture, Jealousy, Jim Has Rage Issues, M/M, Vampires, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-22 16:33:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17063183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowcat/pseuds/Eternal%20Scribe
Summary: Jim believes Dante betrayed him and revealed their nature to vampire hunters; He tells him this after suddenly attacking him. Dante is insulted and leaves to cool off. However, when he doesn't return after a few hours, Jim becomes concerned. He goes tracking Dante and what he finds pisses him right the hell off.





	There's No Escape When Fire Meets Fate

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the GatheringFiKi - 12 Days of Christmas 2018 on Tumblr

Dante wasn't expecting to be attacked in his own home and in front of his desk. It took him a few moments of fighting and being ready to rend and tear before a certain scent caught his nose -- and two hands wrested him down to the ground. He fought because of course, he did, but then teeth bit into the back of his neck hard and he went still. The bite was painful, but it wasn't something that upset him. After all, the man attacking him was the only one that had ever been allowed to treat him this way.

The only one that had managed to hurt him and stay in mostly one piece.

He shifted, trying to get up, only to be slammed back down onto the floor as hard as he had originally been put there. There was a growl in the air above him and that gave him a very good idea of the mood that his creator must be in. He only attacked like this when he hadn't fed or gave into any of his other base urges in quite some time. The fangs bit into the back of his neck again and he had to fight the desire to moan and go limp. However, it was not a good idea for him to give himself completely over until he knew what the hell was going on and exactly what kind of mood the one holding him down was in.

"Jim?"

"Stay. Down." Jim growled out, his voice full of such malice that Dante was becoming concerned for him. "If you want to get out of this with all of your limbs attached, then do as I say and stay the fuck down."

This... this was not a state Dante saw Jim in very often. In fact, the last time that Dante had been on this end of a mood like this he had ended up being pretty much out of commission for several days while his body healed. Even as a vampire and an immortal, the body could need some time to repair itself completely when it was almost torn apart by creator, lover, demon.

Dante went limp. He knew that even though quite a bit of pain was coming his way, there would be pleasure as well. It was one of those things that had attracted Jim to him when he was a human. Dante had never been one to shy away from pain in the bedroom -- or in other places that he was fucked. He had been a masochist in the bedroom even before he had been quite aware of the existence of that word.

"I'm yours," he murmured, surrendering as much as he possibly could. "You know this."

A hand tangled in his hair, yanking his head up so that he was forced to look into blue eyes that were burning with a near insane light. "Do _you_?"

That was new. What had happened that would cause Jim to even question his loyalty and his devotion to him?

"Yes, I do know that," Dante said quietly, allowing his voice to go as soft and his body to relax as much as possible. Something had obviously happened to set Jim off into some kind of frenzy and until he figured out what had happened and what was going on, he didn't want to offer too much challenge.

With him being as unpredictable as he was right now, Dante didn't want to make a misstep that might cause Jim to lose every bit of control and do something that he knew he would regret when he came out of whatever insanity that was currently riding him.

When Jim yanked him off the floor by both his hair and the back of his shirt, Dante didn't make a sound. He was used to rough handling from Jim, and oftentimes he relished it. He loved how bruised and achy he would feel the next day; loved tracing bruises that were so deeply etched onto skin that they wouldn't fade until he drank enough blood to repair torn flesh and vessels. There were times that he would give as good as he got, marking up Jim with fang and nails and smirking each time he saw proof of that they were to each other and what they could do.

"You were with her tonight. I can smell her all over you. I've been able to smell her since I opened the door."

_Jealousy?_ Jim Hawkins did not do jealousy.

"Who was I with, Jim?" Dante asked, honestly confused. "I have been in this house for over a week either painting, writing, or reading. I have gone nowhere and not even ventured outside to wander the land."

Somehow, he had said the wrong thing which was why he was thrown into a wall, wood and stone cracking from the impact. It was highly possible that something within him had cracked as well if the sudden shock of pain rushing through his system was anything to judge by.

"That gutter whore who watches you closely whenever she is near you. She reeks and I can smell her all over you."

"The only woman that has been here recently is my young model, Delena. We have done nothing but work and I assure you, I am the last person she would want to have any kind of connection with outside of our art. She has no more a desire to fuck me than I have to fuck her." He lifted an eyebrow. "Since when do you care who I fuck or who I do anything with?"

"You are _mine_ ," Jim snarled as he stalked toward him. "You have always been mine and I do not like coming to see you and finding you stinking of perfume worse than anyone in a misbegotten whore house would wear."

"I am yours, but you do not own me, Jim." This time Dante's eyes flashed a warning. "You cannot have your dessert and meal and then demand that you get their soul, as well. I have never gone off the rails about the people you entertain when we are not together and I see no reason that you should, either. You are no monk and expecting that I am is quite a bit of nonsense considering what we were doing when you decided to make me into your eternal companion."

Jim's hand moved faster than Dante could track until it was wrapped around his throat and squeezing slightly. "I made you what you are and if you betray me I can end you just as easily."

"Betray you? What in the fuck are you talking about?! Just because I kiss or hug or even fuck another when you go months or even years without coming around doesn't mean that I'm betraying you!"

The hand squeezed harder, causing real pain this time and preventing him from speaking any further. "That whore is a gods damned hunter you sodding asshole!"

Dante stared at Jim, his eyes going wide with shock. His assistant, his _model_ was a vampire hunter?  How was that even possible as she didn't give off any of the usual scents or tells that all of the hunters usually had? Delena had always appeared to be just what she was supposed to be: a pretty, gentle, and very nice young woman. A woman who sat for his paintings and who seemed to be eager to learn from him. How could she be someone who was his worst enemy?

"I see you're understanding a few things, now." Jim was shaking with rage, but he still had his hand squeezing Dante's throat closed so he couldn't speak or defend himself. "That fucking bitch leaves here and returns home, then every week slips away to a few towns over to meet up with her friends and discuss things that they will be needing for their next hunt. She's never mentioned you by name, but I have no doubt you are on their list." He brought his face closer to Dante. "What have you told her?"

Dante shook his head, trying to get his hand up to claw at where Jim was holding him. While it was true that he didn't need to breathe, the way Jim was holding him made it impossible for him to even try to answer his question. He finally twisted and managed to lift his knee enough to shove at Jim, breaking his hold enough to speak.

"I told her _nothing_ you fucking lunatic! You think that I would risk myself or you by talking of anything but art and the projects I want to do with an outsider? Someone that lives in this backwater village where I come to for peace and to keep a low profile?"

"How am I supposed to trust what you do or do not say when you are between a woman's thighs, Dante? Circumspection has never been a strength of yours when you give yourself over to someone. I should know."

Jim knew he had drawn blood on Dante's emotions when he saw the flash of pain in those dark eyes. Part of him wanted to apologize, but the larger part of him was still riding the rage that was brought about by Dante endangering everything they were and had created for a bit of sex with his assistant.

"You trust in me so little even after all of this time?" Dante straightened up, pushing away from the wall and side-stepping Jim altogether. "You think that I would allow myself a lapse in judgment that could bring harm to you?" He stared at Jim for a moment and then gave a stiff nod. "I see."

Dante walked to the door, grabbing his ever-present hat and jamming it on his head. Jim used to joke about that damned hat being Dante's security blanket, but he was not joking now. Jim knew that Dante had revealed things to the strumpet because the bits of conversation he had heard contained information that she only could have learned from his lover.

"I'm going out for a bit of air and possibly a bite." His voice was cold and flat. "I expect that you will be gone to other places by the time I return." Dante never looked back at him as he stepped out of the house and shut the door quietly behind him.

Jim listened for a few moments, expecting that Dante would come back and start a proper yelling match. However, when first five minutes passed, and then ten, he was forced to accept that Dante was not ready to fight back. He knew that he would be back and he knew that they would go at each other. It was what happened when a large explosion was coming. Dante had never risked them like this before and Jim didn't understand why he had slipped up. They needed to be packing and figuring out how to leave with as little bloodshed as possible.

It looked like that going to have to wait until Dante had cooled off and came back to admit where had gone wrong this time. Maybe he would have an explanation that would actually make sense and didn't all come down to him being reckless.

Maybe hell would freeze over.

When Dante did not reappear within a few hours, Jim's temperament changed from angry to concerned. He would not have stayed away this long. His temper or his heart would not allow him to fail to return to his home -- even though they would have to vacate it. He spent some time pacing, carefully packing what belongings he knew his Darkness would want to have with him immediately. The rest of the things here were either easy to ship or could be replaced. Dante had not filled this place to the brim as he had done at several of their various estates and homes across the world.

He poured himself drink after drink as he tried to keep himself busy and not running off in any kind of a stupid mood. There was likely a very simple reason Dante was staying away from him this long. His lingering anger tried to convince his mind of that. However, his heart was telling him that there was something dreadfully wrong. The two of them had fought before -- had even thrown each other out of their separate homes before. However, they had never once vanished like this in the middle of a fight -- much less in such a dangerous time.

While he was pondering this and what to do about it, pain such as he had never felt slammed through him. He stumbled and another spike of pain hit, driving him to his knees as he shouted in shock and anger. He struggled to stand, his blood pounding in his head as he tried to make sense of what was happening. He closed his eyes, trying to gather his focus, only to open them wide as he heard screaming.

Except the screaming was not coming from anywhere outside. The screaming was in his _head_. He felt his fangs elongate as a new rage rushed through him. He knew that voice. He had made him scream enough to know it anywhere. It was Dante. Somewhere, Dante was screaming in agony. He knew the sound of Dante in pain, but this was worse. He had never heard his love, his creation, his _childe_ make such sounds.

Even more concerning, he had never heard Dante in his mind before. He didn't know what was happening, but whatever was going on, he was needed. If those sounds were any indication, the quicker he got to him the better. When he found him and got his claws on whoever was hurting him, the streets would run red. No one would survive whatever was being done to what was _his_.

It did not take him all that long to locate Dante's trail. It was easy to track him since he had been made by him. When he came to the scene of what could only have been an attack, his hunt got that much easier. Humans were quite unaware of the stink they left behind when they were experiencing heightened emotions like anger or fear. And the scene he was looking at now would have triggered both reactions -- fear being the main one.

The house that he knew had belonged to Dante's model and assistant was no longer standing. It not only looked like something had crashed through it, but it was blackened by bits of fire. Jim had never smelled fire or smoke back at the house, so he was curious as to what Dante had learned to do in the time they had been apart. All vampires of his line could create a bit of fire and a few other things as they had magic in their blood. However, to be able to mask the scent from other vampires in the area? That was indeed a feat he had never heard of before.

He shook himself free of those thoughts and approached the house, hiding in the shadows. The stench of blood and death was strong here and Jim was curious as he stepped in. Just as he expected, the girl was dead, looking to have her throat ripped out. Laying around her were the bodies of other conspirators he had seen and heard at the secret meetings he had tracked her to. Their bodies were in worse shape than the woman was.

It made sense as she was the one that Dante had trusted and cared for. He would not have ripped her apart like a wild beast as he had the men.

He tilted his head as he looked around the room, unable to help the pride as he took in the utter destruction that had happened here. Dante had obviously been seized by madness when he struck as the walls were splashed with blood. There was not a piece of furniture left in one piece and bits of books and paper looked like they were still smoldering.

This was all very well and good -- though he wished Dante hadn't taken his revenge in quite so obvious a fashion before they had safely made their escape. However, none of this explained the pain and screaming he had felt and heard earlier. Things that he knew were still happening outside of the protective shields he had wrapped around his mind. Somewhere, Dante needed his help and if he had to kill everyone he came across to find him, then he would.

He stepped out of the house and took in a deep swallow of the air around him. He went still as all of his senses translated what he was tasting and smelling in the air. After a few moments, his eyes snapped open and his fangs elongated again. He stuck to the shadows, quietly and carefully following the trail he could now detect. The stink of anger and fear had gotten thicker and soon he smelled something that would have panicked a lesser creature.

_Fire._

Only, this time there was no hiding it, which said that Dante was not the one who had started the fire. Which meant he needed to get to him _now_. He heard voices, which told him he was getting closer. Amid those voices, he realized that something was missing.

_Dante was no longer screaming._

In fact, he couldn't detect any sounds coming from the other vampire at all -- and this close he should be. He bit back a snarl of rage and fear at the idea that these human hunters had _destroyed_ his Darkness. His beautiful Dante.

When he stepped into the clearing, the sight that met his eyes caused something in him to freeze and then snap.

Dante was hanging from some kind of hastily built stocks or something. There were two posts driven into the ground and metal cuffs were affixed to those poles. Both of his arms were stretched out and fastened into those cuffs he saw. The had him hanging so that his knees were barely brushing the ground and his legs were behind him. From this angle Jim couldn't tell if his ankles were cuffed to lower poles or if he was just naturally positioned like that. His head was hanging down so Jim couldn't see if his eyes were even open or if he was still alive. He smelled blood, but beneath the blood, he could smell the scent that was unmistakably Dante. A scent that was now covered in pain and the smell of burnt flesh.

He did not see any burns on the flesh that his eyes examined, but he knew that they had used fire on him. Around his feet were small piles of wood kindling so Jim had no doubt of what they thought they were going to do. He was going to enjoy this slaughter so fucking much.

He melted back into the shadows and then entered the clearing again, making sure that he made noises like a human would so they heard him. The man that he identified as the leader whirled around to face him. He brought his gun up, and then lowered it when he saw Jim.

"Sir, you should probably go on back to town," he suggested. "You don't need to be involved in this kind of nasty business."

Jim gave him a confused smile. "What kind of business and why do you have Mr. Robbins hanging up like that? I thought that lynchings were a thing of the past. I mean, granted, he is a bit too friendly with the ladies, my Lizzie won't shut up about him, but surely this is a little extreme?"

The ringleader grunted. "Robbins killed seven people. Besides, laws of human decency do not apply to killers and vampires."

Jim feigned a shocked gasp. "Vampire? Him? Surely you must be joking. First of all, vampires are not real. Second of all, he's a pansy fucking painter."

He would apologize to Dante for such an insult to him once he got him out of this and they were away from this place. His focus right now was making sure that he killed all of these assholes and resuscitated his beloved. Because he refused to believe Dante was gone. There was still a body and not a pile of ash and dust so he was not beyond Jim's reach.

Which did not mean these men would not still die painfully and bloody for touching what belonged to him. Besides, Dante would need their blood to heal whatever damage had been done. Damage that he would make sure these people paid for in spades.

He would decide later if they were going to destroy the entire small town or not. It would depend on what had been done to Dante and if his beautiful artist wanted to spare them. In this one thing, he would defer to Dante's wishes, and only because what he must have gone through had earned him that consideration.

"He's very good at acting. He's had everybody fooled for months."

"Months you say? How did you find out what he was?"

"Well, we didn't know for sure until he killed several people back at Delena's house. He seemed to think she had betrayed him in some way. It was sad, though, because she had no idea. Her sister Rosalisa was one of us before she got killed and Delena would bring us food thinking we were working in the mines all the time." The man shrugged. "I mean, we thought he was a little odd and off with how he acted, but we don't judge no one. However, what he did to poor Delena and our friends was uncalled for and how we found out that he wasn't a human."

"That's very unfortunate," Jim said, still willing Dante to move so he could see just how badly injured he was. He was doing his best to fight off the waves of guilt over his accusations several hours ago. If he hadn't been so sure that Dante had told the girl something incriminating, then he would never have been captured.

"It was, but he's going to pay for it. We've been trying to get him to tell us where the rest of his group are. Vampires aren't as solitary as some people think. They travel in groups so they can destroy more people. No matter what we've done to him he's said that there are no others that he knows of. He swears he's the only one." The man shrugged. "Doesn't matter. We've got ways we can break him and make him talk. There are more of us than there are of him and we can take turns going at him."

Jim felt the rage building as this man talk so casually of torturing Dante without the slightest bit of remorse. The fact that they planned to keep torturing him until they broke him made him want to burn the whole fucking place to the ground.

He let eyes sweep to where Dante was and he went still. Did he just see his fingers twitch? He couldn't be absolutely sure, so he waited to see if it happened again. He smiled inwardly when they did twitch, and then formed a shaky version of one of their hand signals they used when hunting. If Dante wanted blood, well then Jim was going to make sure he bathed in it.

"No," He smiled, turning his full attention to the man who led this group of assholes. "You mistake my meaning. I meant that this is all unfortunate for _you_. See, you took something that belongs to me and I want him back. I'm taking him now and if any of you try to stop me, your deaths are going to be very, very messy. When I am done with you no one will be able to identify you."

Not that he was going to allow any of them to get away, even if they did cooperate. They hurt Dante, which meant they were all going to die.


End file.
